When the nesting urge struck me recently, it struck like lightning. Everything that lingered on my to-do list for the last eight months suddenly felt more urgent than ever before. In one hormone and coffee fueled afternoon, I reorganized a hall closet, sorted through all the baby clothes, set up the crib, and ordered a breast pump. Nothing like a surge of pregnancy hormones to get the job done!
Ordering a breast pump through Tricare sounds like it would be the most daunting task of all, right? Usually any mention of dealing with insurance and paperwork gives me anxiety, and I immediately find any other thing to do in order to put it off a little longer. However, I ordered through The Breastfeeding Shop, and I was stunned at how easy this was to check off my to-do list. Allow me to break this down just in case you’re in the throes of a nesting to-do list.
First you need a prescription from your OB. My doctor gave me mine at my 28 week appointment. I let mine sit around and collect a little dust until this week, less than a month before my due date because I like to live on the edge. This is nice to consider if you’re a procrastinator like me because it seriously only took me ten minutes to order it and a week until it arrived at my door (that’s including a holiday weekend!).
Next, unless you’re already sure about what you want, take a minute to look at The Breastfeeding Shop’s pump comparison chart. Tricare had just started covering breast pumps when I had my first kiddo, so I already own a pump, but I’m not thrilled with it. Because I have a toddler and I am down to the wire with time and energy, I’m not investing quite the same amount of time for research into baby gear this time around.
This comparison chart is exactly what I needed — a concise, at-a-glance overview of each of the pumps The Breastfeeding Shop offers and their features. It was nice to compare the pump I already own to the one I had my eye on without going down a rabbit hole of research. Looking through the chart was probably the most time consuming part of this whole endeavor, and it probably cost me five minutes of my life.
After I made my decision, (the Spectra S1), I took a picture of my prescription on my phone and uploaded it to the TBS website. (Is anyone else so thankful when they get to bypass the use of a scanner, or especially, gasp, a fax machine? I seriously feel hashtag blessed when I can complete an entire bureaucratic task from my phone.) I only needed my sponsors social (a number we milspouses have memorized by now anyway) in addition to my prescription and my basic information. After filling out the form with that info and selecting the pump I wanted, I really stopped to wonder if this was too easy to be true. It really was that straightforward.
Fast forward one week and a giant package was at my door, packed full of all the goodies you see here.
Not only did The Breastfeeding Shop send me the pump and the basic hoses and shields that come with it, but an extra set of shields in a slightly larger size. This was a surprise to me, and it’s huge help because these things are a giant hassle to buy when you’re in the newborn fog and trying to troubleshoot any pumping discomfort you might be having. (I may have endured my own exhausted breast shield sizing shopping spree when my first pump was giving me trouble with the standard issue shields. Just one of the many glamorous moments of new motherhood that no one mentioned to me!)
If I wasn’t already sure, this was the sign that there are experienced mom’s behind The Breastfeeding Shop’s operation.
Hang tight though, I’m going to circle back to why these pump supply angels are seriously going above and beyond to help pumping mamas. Also included in my shipment were two additional bottles and six boxes of storage bags! I can only hope to pump enough to use all of those bad boys, but it’s nice to know they’re there if I need them.
The email I got when my package shipped let me know that Tricare approved an additional order of accessories at no cost. Sixty days after my initial order (or any time after the birth, if you were on top of things and ordered your pump during your second trimester like a responsible adult), you just fill out another form on the TBS website and it gives you some options for any accessories in which you need more.
Are you a pumping machine and you’ve already gone through all 350 of your storage bags? They’ve got you covered.
Need some supplies you can keep at work? You can order another set from your specific brand.
Or, and this is how I know these milk fairies must be listening to pumping moms closely, you can order another size of flanges. Maybe you couldn’t find the right fit and you’d like to try a third size free. Or maybe, and just hear me out here, after 60 days or more of pumping and/or nursing, your breasts no longer fit the larger size and now that they’ve deflated into leftover party balloons adjusted to the supply and demand of pumping, you’d like to go with a different size.
Whatever the case may be, I think providing more accessories a few weeks down the road, usually once you’ve found your stride in pumping, is so helpful and needed.
So go ahead and take advantage of this awesome Tricare benefit and order your pump through The Breastfeeding Shop. I can’t say enough about the ease of use and the fast shipping. It was a procrastinating pregnant woman’s dream come true!.
And now that I have my pump and plenty of accessories to go with it, I can cross that off my to-do list and focus on other such tasks as picking out a name for my kid.
